Algernon Sidney Quotes

Authority and power are two different things: power is the force by means of which you can oblige others to obey you. Authority is the right to direct and command, to be listened to or obeyed by others. Authority requests power. Power without authority is tyranny.

To rule means to exercise power, and only he who possesses power can exercise it. This direct connection of power and rule forms the fundamental truth of all politics and the key to all history.

Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.

It is not a sign of arrogance for the king to rule. That is what he is there for.

I was the law and order.

Tis a dainty thing to command, though twere but a flock of sheep.

No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others.

All empire is no more than power in trust.

The exercise of authority is odious, and they who know how to govern, leave it in abeyance as much as possible.

My relationship to power and authority is that I'm all for it...People need somebody to watch over them.... Ninety-five percent of the people in the world need to be told what to do and how to behave.

You're not a leader if you haven't been elected.

We should understand the source of our authority and something of the keys that control its power.

Remember that the essence of authority is that people willingly follow your lead.

All leaders must have some power. Without power, you can't be a leader.

If your people don't really believe or respect you, if you don't have the moral authority to rule, then your goose is cooked.

Civilization is always in danger when those who have never learned to obey are given the right to command.

He that cannot obey, cannot command.

No man doth safely rule, but he that hath learned gladly to obey.

All are born to observe order, but few are born to establish it.

It is a great matter to be in authority over others; for authority, if it be rightly used, will make you feared beyond your actual resources.

To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less.

How shall I be able to rule over others, that have not full power and command of myself?

Learn to obey before you command.

The Law is one aspect of a much more concrete and encompassing relation than the relation between commanding and obeying that characterizes the imperative.

In order to be respected, authority has got to be respectable.